Brilliant! This weekend, the weekend before the grading, another group from another style is coming to train at my dojo. It's so dizzying that such a wildly huge range of people can love the same thing! Which reveals the essential similarities, I suppose.

Shadowfax, but where does that ever stop??!!

That depends on the individual. Hopefully it never stops. Hopefully you will find yourself continuously discovering aspects of Aikido that you will want to focus yourself on, each little bit at a time.

As people say, at first it is about getting past 'which hand and foot goes where and how to keep your balance and be centered while moving.'

After that becomes a little more 'internalized' you then find yourself looking for similarities in all techniques as opposed to the differences.

Then perhaps you start to see that the techniques are not 'Aikido' themselves but only an outward expression of it. We need to find the Aikido in each technique which eventually leads to 'no technique' and just being connected to yourself, centred, always. When you then 'do Aikido' you are already connected and centred so when you make contact with your partner you connect with their centre immediately and can do what you will/want.

For me this is the really fun part of being able to just 'train'. Go to each class and try to connect with my centre, not lose my own connection, stay balanced in every movement. When doing any technique, take my time and 'feel' my connection with my partner and try to move it ever so slightly without creating resistance in them or myself. This is the part that I hope never truly stops. I would like to be able to feel and 'know' this is still happening even when I hopefully 'internalize' it and it is second nature.

Each little success gives me a smile. Each little failure is met with a laugh as it is another chance to find success through the understanding of why I failed. Lots of things to laugh and smile about while training.